Can We Really Know If The Bible Is God’s Word?

Before someone can even consider becoming a Christian, the first necessary step is to find out whether or not the Bible can be trusted. After all, the whole Christian belief system is based on the teachings of the Bible alone, and not on any other book, organisation, or source, thus if the Bible was unreliable, then that would mean Christianity would also be unreliable. This article will attempt to give you credible evidence in support of the reliability of the Bible.

Introduction to the Rationalist Challenge

Over 100 years ago Oswald Chambers described how our post-Christian world was beginning to treat Christianity and the Bible on which it’s based— “We have made ambition and competition the very essence of civilized life. No wonder there is no room for Jesus Christ, and no room for the Bible. We are all so scientifically orthodox nowadays, so materialistic and certain that rationalism is the basis of things, that we make the Bible out to be the most revolutionary, unorthodox and heretical of books.”

It’s that “rationalism” that we need to address. Every human being exercises some sort of faith—that the chair will hold them when they sit down, that their spouse will honor their marriage vows, and that their worldview is correct. We need to explore what kind of faith they (and we) have:

  • Unreasonable faith—believing in something in spite of the evidence.
  • Blind faith—believing in something without any evidence.
  • Reasonable faith—believing in something because of the evidence.

The Bibliographical Test and Manuscript Copies

I want to show evidence that makes it reasonable to believe in the Bible through empirical evidence. The bibliographical test involves determining whether the text of the historical record has been transmitted accurately. Scholarly research has found that the original Bible autographs are gone, however, it has also found that before this happened, copies were made of them.

Josh McDowell states, “No other work in all literature has been so carefully and accurately copied as the Old Testament.” He can make this claim because the profession of “scribe” was one of the most professional and exacting of all professions. The rigorous standards employed to prove the accuracy of a copy of a biblical manuscript was higher than for any other literature. The following data highlights the astronomical quantity of New Testament manuscripts compared to other ancient works:

  • New Testament: Approximately 24,000 handwritten copies (including more than 5,000 in Greek).
  • Homer’s The Iliad: 643 copies.
  • Sophocles: 193 copies.
  • Aristotle: 49 copies.

Lee Strobel wrote in his book, The Case For Christ, that even if no Greek manuscripts existed today, we could still reproduce the contents of the New Testament just by piecing together the information from the other translations of early dates. Furthermore, regarding the Old Testament, the scrolls found at the Dead Sea confirm the accuracy of the biblical text by 99 percent.

Time Between Originals and Copies

The time between the original writings and copies for the New Testament is incredibly short. While other classical works have an average of 1,000 years between the original and copy, the majority of the New Testament copies were made in less than 200 years after the originals. For example:

  • The New Testament: Earliest copy made 60 years or so later; fragment of the Gospel of John dates AD 100-150.
  • Homer’s The Iliad: First copy was 500 years from the original.
  • Sophocles and Aristotle: 1,400 years from the original.

Time Between Event and Original Writing

Much of the New Testament’s original writings were written only a few decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus. One example of a very early book of the New Testament is 1 Corinthians, which dates back to the 50’s AD (about 20 years after the death and resurrection of Christ). This is way too early for myths or legends to distort the facts. By comparison, Alexander’s first two biographies were written by Arrian and Plutarch more than 400 years after his death.

The External Evidence Test

The external evidence test involves determining whether the historical record has been verified or affirmed by data outside of itself. Over one-fourth of the Bible is prophetic, and two-thirds of its prophesies have already been fulfilled. For example, 700 years before His birth, the city in which Jesus was to be born was identified by a man named Micah.

Time and time again archeologists discover articles that verify the claims in the Bible. This led archeologist Nelson Glueck to conclude, “It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible.”